Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo Europe kicks off sixth season in Monza this weekend!

Sant’Agata Bolognese/Monza, Italy, 9 April 2014. The sixth season starts in Monza this weekend, 11-13 April, for the Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo Europe.

The 2014 one-make series based on the Lamborghini Gallardo LP 570-4 Super Trofeo, will race across Europe at five FIA-approved circuits, starting with Monza and going onwards to Silverstone (England), Paul Ricard (France), Spa-Francorchamps (Belgium) and Nürburgring (Germany). The series will culminate in November at the Asian venue of Sepang, Malaysia, where the final European round will be held during the same weekend as the world finals for all three Super Trofeo series running internationally: in Europe, Asia and the USA.

The season opener in Monza features a record grid, with up to 25 cars for the season, 12 confirmed teams and an exceptionally high number of ‘young’ drivers. This trend is reflected in a new Young Drivers’ Program, through which Lamborghini Squadra Corse aims to select the best ‘under 26’ drivers to involve them in testing sessions for the Sant’Agata Bolognese brand.

Other developments in 2014 include a new class, reflecting the number and quality of race entrants: along with the PRO-AM and AM, there will also be the PRO One.

Autocarrozzeria Imperiale this year will be well represented by the experienced Andrea Palma and the 19-year old Alberto Viberti; the latter current AM World Champion and in 2014 promoted to the PRO-AM class where he will face his team mate and rival, rookie Alberto Di Folco (who turned 18 on 21 March), and who makes his racing debut in the European Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo. The Italian youngster already proved his prowess behind the wheel of a Super Trofeo race car in the two-day testing session held last month in Vallelunga, where he topped the timesheet.

Last year’s season-opener winner, also at Monza, was Swiss Cédric Leimer: the 2013 vice-champion is aiming for this year’s PRO championship title, again under the Autovitesse Garage R. Affolter team’s banner.

Among other newcomers is Italian Edoardo Piscopo, a talented and experienced driver, who is set to make his debut in the series with Bonaldi Motorsport.

Alberto Cerqui, who has a season in WTCC and several wins under his belt, will share the wheel with Andrea Ceccato in the car run by Composit Motorsport.

The 23-year old Jeroen Mul will debut in the PRO Class with Lamborghini Racing Team Germany. The Dutch has a five year single-seater experience and recently managed eighth overall on a Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 in Dubai 24hrs race.

The Austrian Gerhard Tweraser (class of ’88) will race in the PRO-AM Class with Grasser Racing Team. Along with him, but on a car run by Racetrax, there will be the Dimitri Enjalbert-Mikko Eskelinen duo.

DTMotorsport with the rookie Simone Pellegrinelli will also make their series debut, while Automobili Lamborghini Racing Team UK and Heico-Gravity Charouz Team will complete the field.

At Monza, the first green flag is set for Friday morning with two 60-minute free practice sessions at 11.05 am and 2.20 pm. The 40-minute qualifying session is on Saturday at 10.40 am while in the afternoon, at 2.55, the lights will go up on the 50-minute Race One. Race Two starts Sunday at 10.45.

This year extended TV coverage will be broadcast: in Italy all races will be shown LIVE on Class TV (Ch.27/Cable), while 48 highlights will be broadcast the first Saturday following the event on European motorsport channel Motors TV. At the same time all races will be streamed live on the Lamborghini Squadra Corse website: http://squadracorse.lamborghini.com/en/live.